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Mum pleads guilty over hot car baby death

Daniel Fogarty

A Melbourne woman whose 10-month-old daughter died after being left in a hot car has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Thy Tran's body temperature reached 41.5C after she was left in her mother Michelle Nguyen's car on a warm day in November 2011.

Nguyen had left Thy in the car three times in the two weeks before her death, witnesses told police.

She was charged with manslaughter and on Thursday she pleaded guilty shortly before her Victorian Supreme Court trial was to start.

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Nguyen had taken Thy for a drive to get her to sleep and when they returned to her Glenroy home she left the child in the car with a single door open.

After checking on her daughter once about 15 minutes later and seeing she was asleep, Nguyen shut the car door, meaning all doors and windows in the car were shut, and went inside.

The car was uncovered and in direct sunlight on a day when the temperature was 28C, a previous court hearing was told.

Inside Nguyen then fell asleep in front of the television.

When she woke up at 2pm, Nguyen ran to the car, but by this time Thy was no longer breathing and her body was hot to touch.

Heat tests inside the car in the driveway on a later day with similar weather conditions found the temperature rose from 26.8C to 47.9C within 90 minutes, Nguyen's committal hearing was told.

Nguyen's plea came after a pre-trial ruling on whether the Crown could run an unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter case.

Justice Betty King found they could, saying evidence of the three previous times the child was left in the car was admissible.

Nguyen had been living with her mother until about a week before Thy's death, but had become involved in significant disputes with her mother and the mother's partner over the care of Thy and Thy's older sister.

In her ruling Justice King said there were numerous occasions in October 2011 that either Nguyen's mother or the mother's partner would return to their home and find Thy alone in the house while Nguyen and the older sister were absent.

Usually the child was left in her pusher in front of the television.

Nguyen had left Thy asleep in the car in the driveway for an hour and a half the night before her death, her committal hearing was told.

A friend warned Nguyen at 11pm not to forget that Thy was in the car but it wasn't until 12.30am, when a neighbour heard the child crying in the car and knocked on Nguyen's front door, that she retrieved her baby.

Nguyen's bail was extended and she will face the same court for a pre-sentence hearing on February 1.